Freedom to Marry Commends Governor Quinn on Signing Civil Union Bill, Calls for Next Step

By Andy Eddins
Jan 31, 2011 at 08:00 pm

Below is a statement from Evan Wolfson, Executive Director of Freedom to Marry, on today’s signing of the Illinois Religious Freedom Protections and Civil Unions Act by Governor Quinn:

“Freedom to Marry applauds Governor Quinn and the Illinois legislature for passing and signing this important recognition of gay and lesbian couples and taking a step toward fairness for Illinois families.  Civil union is a way of providing loving and committed couples with significant responsibilities and protections – of particular importance in these difficult economic times.

“Now the legislature and governor should finish the job.  Time and again states that have created civil union as a means of both giving and withholding – providing select legal protections while withholding the freedom to marry and all its meaning – have found that civil union falls far short of marriage with all its tangible and intangible significance in our lives.  Many of those states – Connecticut, New Hampshire, and even Vermont, which first created civil union – have since pushed past civil union to marriage, recognizing the inadequacy and unfairness of a separate and unequal status.  There is no reason to have two lines at the clerk’s office when we can all share in the same responsibilities, same respect, and same rules of civil marriage.”